Making a acrylic shaving brush ?

[am8119]

Hi. I´m intrested making a acrylic shaving brush. I have couple questions .

1. Where is best place to buy a acrylic planks ? I live in Finland. EBay ?

2. Is it safe to start making your own brush, without experience acrylic turning ?

I have use metal lathe many times. But I have not used chisel.

Thanks for your help.

This is what i was looking for.

 

[CigarSmoka]

I would recommend starting with an Alumilite blank ignyou can f8nd one. There are many different kinds of “acrylic” blanks, and it’s well known that Alumilite is the easiest to turn and should be available on ebay. A bottle stopper blank is a good size for a brush handle and are easy to find. Stay away from Inlace Acrylester blanks, they’re by far the hardest. The tradeoff is Alumilite doesn’t polish as good as the rest of the resins, and the rest of the resins don’t polish as good as Inlace Acrylester. Yes, you can make a brush without any experience with acrylics, you have to start somewhere and truthfully a brush is an easy project for a beginner as long as you don’t try to get too fancy with the shape. Not having any turning experience at all is a real drawback though. Knowing how to work with the tools is essential when it comes to acrylics so you might want to practice on some cheap wood spindles before touching any acrylic blanks.

I don’t know if the following companies ship worldwide, but Woodturningz.com, beartoothwoods.com, woodcraft.com and rockler.com all have a decent selection of bottle stopper blanks. It helps if you can find round blanks, most of the chipping problems with resins occur when roughing a square blank to round.

 

[am8119]

... Not having any turning experience at all is a real drawback though. Knowing how to work with the tools is essential when it comes to acrylics so you might want to practice on some cheap wood spindles before touching any acrylic blanks.

Thanks. I have use lathe many times and turning different metals. So I have basic knowledge. But I havent use chisel.

 

[am8119]

Terve. Saako 300€ "kunnollista" minisorvia jolla sorvaisi pieniä kippoja sekä partasutien kahvoja ?
Maksimi halkaisija ei ylittäisi 150mm, joten ei tarvitsisi olla kovin iso. Ei ole myöskään isoja tiloja.

So Can I buy mini wood lathe that is ok for about 300-400€ ? I dont need to turn more than 150mm diameter items.
Jet lathe ?
Record lathe ?
Some Chinese lathes ?

Thanks

 

[CigarSmoka]

If you can get a Jet in in that price range then go for it, they’re pretty much the benchmark for small/benchtop lathes. One thing to consider is a variable speed lathe. Changing pulleys often gets old fast, and you’re confined to the set speeds, and the slowest is usually too fast for sanding properly especially if you plan to make small bowls and the like. Being able to spin at the speed you’re comfortable with is worth the extra money, as well as saving time constantly changing pulleys to turn, drill, & sand over the life of the lathe. Graydog & I both have a Rikon which is nice too, but you still have to change pulleys to sand. The speed range on a Jet will allow you to turn and sand without changing pulleys, and they have a better reputation as well, but they cost a bit more than a Rikon. If I had it to do over, I’d buy a Jet.